Newspaper: Army Confirms No Gun Ri

An Army investigation has found that American soldiers panicked and fired into a group of unarmed refugees near the hamlet of No Gun Ri in the early days of the Korean War, but it did not find conclusive evidence that they had orders to kill the
civilians, a newspaper reported.

The story, in today’s edition of The Washington Post, said
military investigators were unable to determine how many civilians
perished in the incident at a railroad bridge in late July 1950.

The Pentagon report, a year in preparation, would be “the first
formal acknowledgement by the U.S. military of its involvement in
the massacre at No Gun Ri,” The Post said. Military officials had
previously denied the involvement of American troops.

The report, based on more than 100 interviews and a review of
more than a million pages of documents, is expected to be released
in the next six weeks, and could come sooner, depending on talks in
Seoul, the paper said.

A Pentagon spokesman was not immediately available to comment on
the report of the Army findings.

Questions of Responsibility

Former Rep. Pete McCloskey, R-Calif., a member of an eight-member civilian advisory panel to the Pentagon inquiry, confirmed that the Army’s draft report says there is no evidence that orders were given to fire on the refugees at No Gun Ri. He
said he disagreed with that conclusion and urged a revision.

“We have seen statements from one officer and nine enlisted men
at No Gun Ri who referred to those orders,” McCloskey said.
“Unless the Army has information we have not yet seen, I can’t
understand how they reached their conclusion.”

Three other members of the panel, reached by The AP, declined to
comment.

Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered the Army inquiry after
an AP report a year ago told of the shooting of many civilians by
American GIs at the hamlet during a chaotic retreat southward from
invading North Korean forces.

The AP report said former GIs estimated the number killed as
100, 200 or simply “hundreds,” while Korean survivors said 300
died by shooting and 100 by strafing by U.S. planes.

About 170 Korean families are seeking compensation from the
United States.

Varying Death Tolls, Vague Memories

While the draft report reaches no conclusion on the number
killed at No Gun Ri, The Post said members of the advisory panel
said they believe the number probably was between 50 and 300, with
most leaning toward the lower end of that range.

The paper said that, according to several people familiar with
the draft report, U.S. veterans had widely varying memories of No
Gun Ri, and the Pentagon could not verify some elements of the
original AP story of September 1999.

It quoted one unnamed person familiar with the draft report as
saying the AP was “too definite” about what happened, and may
have left an impression that there was conclusive evidence that
hundreds were killed.

The AP’s original story did not estimate the number killed on
its own, but cited accounts by ex-GIs and survivors. It also said
there were a number of unanswered questions, including what
officers gave orders to open fire.

Kelly Smith Tunney, a spokeswoman for The AP, said the news
service had not seen a copy of the draft report, but noted that
“for many years, the Pentagon denied the involvement of American
soldiers in the deaths of villagers at No Gun Ri.”

She added, “We are confident that any fair investigation will
confirm AP’s central finding that the U.S. military was involved in
the killing of a large number of Korean refugees at No Gun Ri.”

Following the Chain of Command

Some former members of the 2nd battalion, 7th Cavalry regiment,
interviewed by AP, told of fears that the refugee columns had been
infiltrated by enemy troops in order to ambush the Americans, and
said they had orders to prevent any Korean civilians from
approaching U.S. positions.

The AP also found in government archives declassified orders
issued at the time by three high Army headquarters including the
1st Cavalry Division and an Air Force command to treat the Korean
refugees as hostile. It was not immediately known whether the
Army’s report acknowledges the existence of these orders, including
a 1st Cavalry Division order to “fire everyone trying to cross
lines.”

Two former 2nd battalion headquarters radiomen told the Army,
and the AP in recent interviews, that they knew such orders came
down the chain of command from higher headquarters and were
delivered to the rifle companies. They, and two other former signal
men, also told AP that written orders were all but nonexistent in
Korean combat.

The Korean Investigation

Meanwhile, U.S. and Korean officials met Wednesday in Seoul to
discuss their findings in separate investigations conducted over
the past year. The talks focused on a proposed “joint memorandum
of understanding.”

A Korean-language draft copy, obtained by The Associated Press,
reflected divisions between the two sides over the number of people
killed and whether U.S. troops acted under orders.

It quoted the U.S. version as saying both sides “understand
that from July 25 to 29, 1950, there was no written or verbal order
to kill any noncombatant Korean personnel around No Gun Ri, but
some U.S. soldiers assumed that there was an attack order after
watching mortar and howitzer bombs (shells) falling in the crowd of
refugees.”

The Korean document also said U.S. investigators had concluded
that “in areas around No Gun Ri, an unspecified number of Korean
refugees were shot to death due to American combat action (but) no
American Army or Air Force personnel were given any orders to shoot
to kill” Korean civilians.

It said Korean investigators so far found that 248 people died,
suffered injury or went missing at No Gun Ri, while the Americans
said there were fewer casualties. But both sides referred to an
“unknown number.”

A source close to the South Korean investigation affirmed the
document was authentic, but said the U.S. position reflected in the
document dated from early November and could have changed since
then.